Yarn lubricator

ABSTRACT

A yarn lubricator is provided including a housing having means for receiving a container for a viscous lubricating fluid that is fed by means of gravity through the housing to a lubricating space, where the yarn is contacted by the fluid. The yarn enters and leaves the lubricating space below a resilient, fluid impervious wall, which serves to retain the viscous fluid from leaking and which also serves to wipe off the lubricant surplus from the yarn&#39;&#39;s outer surface and distribute the remaining lubricant to the inner surface and distribute the remaining lubricant to the inner surface of the yarn. The housing and the container each include an orifice which, in combination, provide variable metering means for the lubricant. The container may be calibrated to provide flow control means. The present invention is particularly adapted to replace the prior art solid wax discs and the prior art cylinders that rotate in a trough filled with a liquid lubricant. The aforementioned Abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application which, of course, is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way.

United States Patent 1 Krausz [451 July 8,1975

1 1 YARN LUBRICATOR Josef Krausz, 43-44 Kissena Blvd., Flushing, NY. 11355 221 Filed: Aug. 2, 1974 21 Appl. No.: 494,128

Related US. Application Data [76] Inventor:

[52] US. Cl 118/420; 118/267 [51] Int. C1. 1305C 3/12 [58] Field of Search 118/78, 234, 267, 405,

[56] References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 1,621,303 3/1927 Altemus 118/234 1,802,602 3/1931 Hellwegm. 118/267 2,507,310 5/1950 Lodge.......... 118/405 2,988,043 6/1961 Sassenberg... 118/234 3,233,585 2/1966 Majette 118/405 Primary Examiner-Mervin Stein Assistant Examiner-Steven Hawkins Attorney, Agent, or FirmLeonard H. King 5 7 ABSTRACT A yarn lubricator is provided including a housing having means for receiving a container for a viscous lubricating fluid that is fed by means of gravity through the housing to a lubricating space, where the yarn is contacted by the fluid. The yarn enters and leaves the Inbricating space below a resilient, fluid impervious wall, which serves to retain the viscous fluid from leaking and which also serves to wipe off the lubricant surplus from the yarns outer surface and distribute the remaining lubricant to the inner surface and distribute the remaining lubricant to the inner surface of the yarn. The housing and the container each include an orifice which, in combination, provide variable metering means for the lubricant. The container may be calibrated to provide flow control means. The present invention is particularly adapted to replace the prior art solid wax discs and the prior art cylinders that rotate in a trough filled with a liquid lubricant.

The aforementioned Abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application which, of course, is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way.

4 Claims, 12 Drawing Figures YARN LUBRICATOR This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application Ser. No. 346,076 filed Mar. 29, 1973 now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION l. Field of the Invention This invention relates generally to yarn lubricating devices and more particularly to apparatus for gravity feeding a viscous fluid lubricant.

2. Description of the Prior Art Generally speaking, there are two forms of prior art devices that have been used for applying a lubricant to a length of traveling yarn. The first form is a solid wax disc that is rotatably mounted on a spindle having an enlarged flange. It is called a wax disc holder. The yarn passes between the flange and one transverse face of the wax disc. A disadvantage of the wax disc type of device is that the yarn is lubricated only over the outer portion thereof and no provision is made for accurately lubricating the inner components of the yarn.

Another form of the prior art utilizes a trough containing a supply of a liquid lubricant of low viscosity. A roller is rotatably journalled in the trough and picks up the liquid therefrom. The disadvantages of the second form of prior art are that an unnecessarily large quantity of liquid must necessarily be used, the liquid be comes rapidly contaminated thus requiring extensive cleaning of the device when winding different color yarns and there is also a tendency to centrifugally throw the liquid lubricant off of the roller as the roller rotates. Further, there is very little control of the quantity of lubricant applied to the yarn.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Where a prior art lubricant is used, the wax disc itself takes care of the lubrication by friction between the yarn and wax disc, or in the case of a rotating roller coated with a liquid lubricant, transfer of the lubricant to the yarn is direct. It was necessary to develop the present lubricating device to enable the application of a viscous fluid lubricant, whose lubricating effect is superior and eliminates problems existing in the prior art. The present invention provides means for accurately controlling the quantity of lubricant applied to the yarn. The lubricant is contained within a closed feeder device and is fed by gravity through an opening in the bottom of the feeder. A housing, having a passageway therethrough, is arranged to receive the feeder whereby the opening in the feeder and the passageway in the housing define, in combination, a metering orifice for the viscous fluid lubricant. A part of the housing is a resilient wall. The yarn travels between the bottom of the resilient wall and the flange of the wax disc holder. This resilient wall retains the viscous fluid lubricant inside the housing and therefore has to be made of a material which the lubricant cannot penetrate, to allow for smooth and easy traveling of the yarn and to remove surplus lubricant from the yarns outer surface before leaving the lubricating device.

The lubricant, which is a relatively slow flowing viscous fluid, enters the lubricating device through an orifice, whose size is regulatable in order to control the quantity of lubricant present in the device. Leaving the orifice in the container, the lubricant flows through a passageway to the lubricating chamber, where the yarn comes in contact with the lubricant. By controlling the quantity of lubricant which reaches the lubricating chamber, the pick up on the yarn is accurately controllable.

The yarn enters the device below a resilient wallwhere it is easily inserted-, picks up the lubricant in the lubricating chamber and leaves on the opposite side of the resilient wall. The quantity of lubricant on the yarn is controllable by synchronizing the flow of the lubricant with the travel speed of the yarn. When the yarn leaves the device, the bottom surface of the resilient wall retains the surplus lubricant which is on the outer surface of the yarn. The friction between the yarn and the bottom of the resilient wall forces the lubricant to the inner surface of the yarn.

The present invention is adaptable for use on winding machines that heretofore used a wax disc in either the horizontal or the vertical position.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved lubricating device for a length of a traveling yarn.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved yarn lubricator, that operates on the principle of gravity induced lubricator flow.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a closed system lubricating device for yarn which allows the use of a viscous, slow moving fluid lubricant.

A further object of the present invention is to provide metering means for controlling the flow of the lubricant in a yarn lubricating device.

An additional object of the present invention is to provide a calibrated yarn lubricating device, wherein the quantity of lubricant applied to the yarn can be accurately controlled.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will in part, be pointed out with particularity, and will, in part, be obvious from the following more detailed description of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing and which forms an integral part thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the various figures of the drawing, like reference characters designate like parts. In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one form of prior art structure;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary, perspective view of another form of prior art structure;

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of the yarn lubricating device comprising the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional elevational view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a sectional plan view taken along line 55 of FIG. 4;

FIGS. 5A and 5B are sectional plan views similar to FIG. 5 illustrating alternative positions of the lubricant metering orifice of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a sectional plan view taken along line 66 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a sectional plan view taken along line 7-7 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the resilient wall;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a retaining clip for the resilient wall; and

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary, perspective view illustrating adapter means for use with the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to FIG. 1 there is shown one form of prior art device. In the past it has been common to use a solid wax disc 20 that is mounted on a spindle 22 which extends upwardly from a flange 24. The yarn 26 passes between the lower face of the solid wax disc 20 and the upper face of the flange 24 with the wax disc 20 being freely rotatable on the spindle 22. The disadvantage of this form of yarn lubricator is that the lubricant is not evenly and uninterruptedly distributed on the outer surface of the yarn and further, no provision is made for lubricating the inner components of the yarn.

Another form of the prior art is shown in FIG. 2. The second example of the prior art comprises a trough 30 in which is contained a supply of a liquid lubricant of relatively low viscosity 32. A roller 34 is suitably journalled on a shaft 36 and is rotated in the liquid lubricant 32. The yarn 38 passes in tangential contact with the lubricant coated roller 34. Disadvantages of this second form of prior art is that the liquid lubricant 32 is readily contaminated by flying lint and the apparatus requires extensive cleaning when yarns of different colors are wound.

The present invention is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The present invention comprises a container 50 for a viscous fluid lubricant 51, the container 50 having an end cap 52 that is removable at its upper end for filling purposes. The container threadably engages a cup 63 so that the cup is rotatable with container 50. If desired cup 63 may be formed integrally with container 50. The cup is provided with an arcuate opening 61. The container 50 is rotatably secured by means of an O-ring 55 and a clamping ring 59 in a housing 60 in which is formed a passageway 62 that is arcuate in the embodiment illustrated.

A calibrated strip 64 is secured to the outside surface of the container and an index marker 66 is secured to the top of the housing 60. Thus, when the container 50 is rotated about its longitudinal axis, the registered arcuate opening 61 and the arcuate passageway 62 will vary to provide a metering orifice. This arrangement may best be seen in FIGS. 5, A and 5B wherein the container 50 is shown rotated in a counterclockwise direction in FIG. 5, to provide a fairly large lubricant orifree and rotated in a clockwise direction in FIGS. 5A and 55 to provide smaller lubricant orifices. By virtue of this construction the flow of lubricant can be closely controlled and a visual indication is provided by the combination of the calibrated strip 64 and the index marker 66.

A second bore 68 is formed in the bottom end of the housing 60 and is in fluid communication with the passageway 62. For purposes to be described hereinafter, a sleeve 70 is positioned in the opening 68. A bore 72 is formed in the housing 60 coextensively with the opening 68. The two opening 68 and the bore 72 need not be coaxial. A cup shaped flange 74 is provided with a stem 76 that is received in the bore 72. Against a transverse surface 73 of the flange 74 fits a fluid impervious, resilient wall 78 in a notched part 84 of the housing 60. The resilient wall 78 does not exert any pressure on the surface 73. It will be noted that the sleeve 70 extends into the notch 84 to keep the passageway free, but does not extend to the surface 73, between the lower end of the sleeve and the surface 73 is the lubricating chamber. A ring 82 is mounted on the housing 60 with a set screw 80 so that the ring 82 will help to keep the resilient wall 78 securely in the notch 84. Because the housing 60 is notched at 84 it is necessary to provide the sleeve 70 so that a continuous passageway for the lubricant may be formed. Thus there is a vertical passageway, which meets a radial passageway between the bottom of the resilient wall 78 and the flange 74. Felt sealing member 75 surrounding stem 76 is open in the area through which yarn Y passes.

The resilient wall 78 is shown typically in FIG. 8. The resilient wall has a discontinuous circumference and is therefore easily removable for potential maintenance of the inside of the housing 60 or when the wall 78 is worn out. A spring clip 86, such as is shown in FIG. 9, may be used for releasably retaining the resilient wall 78.

In FIG. 10 there is shown an adapter that permits the present invention to be used with a machine normally utilizing a wax disc that rotates about a normally horizontal axis. A plate 92 is provided that may be mounted on the machine using mounting openings 94. A horizontal stud 96 extends outwardly from the plate 92 and a pin 98 extends upwardly from the stud 96. The device comprising the present invention which is generally designated by the reference character 100, is then mounted on the pin 98 that is received in the opening 72 formed in the housing 60. Suitable guides 102 and 104 may also be provided. Member 105 is a hook for securing the apparatus to the winding machine whereby rotation of the device is prevented.

The prior art lubricating systems only allow the use of low viscosity liquids such as oil or emulsion-or solid lubricant such as waxes. Structure that permits the use of viscous liquids as yarn lubricant such as is contemplated by this invention is not known. Therefore the present invention represents an important contribution to the art.

The present invention provides structure that permits a viscous fluid, that moves by gravity, to enter the lubricating area, where the traveling yarn picks up the lubricant. The speed of the yarn, which depends on the speed of the winding machine is an important factor to the lubricant pick up, because at a low speed, the yarn is exposed to the lubricant for a longer time period. That means that with lower speed there is higher lubricant pick up. Each type of winding machine has its own characteristic working speed. Since the flow of the lubricant is regulatable and therefore adjustable to the desired or required lubricant pick up quantity, the speed variation of different winding machines can be disregarded and a constant speed can be assumed.

The lubricant quantity in the lubricating area represents means for regulating the pick up of the lubricant. More lubricant present means deeper penetration in the yarn and therefore higher pick up. If the flow of the lubricant is too slow, as in the case of a reduced size orifice, the pick up will be more superficial with the penetration taking place during and after the yarn leaves the device.

The present invention provides structure that permits direct contact between the yarn and the lubricant, without involving capillary or other transfer methods. The resilient pad represents only a part of the wall, which closes the lubricating area thus allowing to the yarn which is below the resilient pad or wall portion to leave the lubricator device.

The lubricant used in the present invention is a viscous liquid. lts movement isslow and can be regulated by the adjustable orifice, to control the quantity of the lubricant which will enter in the lubricating area during a given or preselected time unit.

The relatively slow movement of the lubricant through an orifice of a preselected size is used to measure and establish the fluidity limits, which can be used in the lubricator device.

A two ounce plastic funnel that is commonly used in a laboratory, serves to measure the lubricants fluidity, the dimensions of the funnel at its upper diameter is 63 mm. and its full height is 65 mm. The funnel part is 42 mm. high and the stem length is 2| mm. The funnel has a 5 mm. diameter orifice.

The funnel is filled with the lubricant. The quantity which is flowing or dripping into a preweighted container and during a preselected time unit determines the lubricant's fluidity. The fluidity is measured in terms of grams per minute for the purposes of this disclosure.

The measurement is made at room temperature of 65-70 F.

The lubricant used with the present invention is an emulsion and can be a water in oil or oil in water type, the lubricant can be also made as a dispersion or 100 percent concentration.

ln the following examples:

5150 means mineral oil of 150 saybolt viscosity.

N P4 means Ethoxylatedmonylphenol with 4 Mols Ethyleneoxide.

NP9 means Ethoxylatedmonylphenol with 9 Mols Ethyleneoxide.

EXAMPLES a. oil in water type S150 NP4 NP9 water Fluidity 6.8 gr/minute. b. water in oil type 8.82% NP9 20.60% water 27.95% water S l 50 NP4 Fluidity 2.7 gr/minute.

There has been disclosed heretofore the best embodiment of the invention presently contemplated. However, it is to be understood that various changes and modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A device adapted to function as an attachment for and to be mounted on yarn winding apparatus for lubricating a length of any one of a plurality of different traveling yarns having a non-continuous surface with a slow flowing viscous fluid having a fluidity of between 0.4 gr/min. to 10 gr/min., said device comprising:

a. an elongated housing having a passageway therethrough and a notch portion;

b. a container mounted on said housing, said container being adapted to hold a supply of the slow flowing fluid yarn lubricant;

c. orifice means for providing fluid flow communication between the interior of said container and said passageway means through housing;

d. a flange having a rigid surface extending radially from said housing with respect to the longitudinal axis thereof;

e. a non-absorbent, resilient partial wall fitting into the notch in the housing, which partial wall serves as a continuation and completion of the housing to define in combination therewith an internal lubricating chamber, for receiving the lubricant from the passageway and for receiving the yarn said partial wall including a transverse surface that is parallel and in opposition to said rigid flange surface for defining a radial yarn path between it and said radially extending rigid flange surface for the yarn to enter and exit said chamber in a substantially tensionless manner and without passing through said container and in any direction with respect to a vertical axis, said resilient wall acting to prevent leakage of the lubricant, to remove surplus lubricant from the yarn and to provide uniform distribution of the lubricant within the yarn which is positioned below the resilient wall and which passes between said resilient wall and said rigid flange surface with minimal functional contact; and

f. means for mounting said device on the yarn winding apparatus in a position such that the yarn lubricant flows from said container through said passageway means in said housing by gravity.

2. The device in accordance with claim 1 wherein means are provided for varying the effective size of said orifice means.

3. The device in accordance with claim 1 wherein the orifice means is defined by an opening in said container and means for angularly displacing the orifice means relative to said passageway means whereby the effective size of said orifice means is variable.

4. The device in accordance with claim 1 wherein said orifice means and said passageway through said housing are arcuate. 

1. A device adapted to function as an attachment for and to be mounted on yarn winding apparatus for lubricating a length of any one of a plurality of different traveling yarns having a noncontinuous surface with a slow flowing viscous fluid having a fluidity of between 0.4 gr/min. to 10 gr/min., said device comprising: a. an elongated housing having a passageway therethrough and a notch portion; b. a container mounted on said housing, said container being adapted to hold a supply of the slow flowing fluid yarn lubricant; c. orifice means for providing fluid flow communication between the interior of said container and said passageway means through housing; d. a flange having a rigid surface extending radially from said housing with respect to the longitudinal axis thereof; e. a non-absorbent, resilient partial wall fitting into the notch in the housing, which partial wall serves as a continuation and completion of the housing to define in combination therewith an internal lubricating chamber, for receiving the lubricant from the passageway and for receiving the yarn said partial wall including a transverse surface that is parallel and in opposition to said rigid flange surface for defining a radial yarn path between it and said radially extending rigid flange surface for the yarn to enter and exit said chamber in a substantially tensionless manner and without passing through said container and in any direction with respect to a vertical axis, said resilient wall acting to prevent leakage of the lubricant, to remove surplus lubricant from the yarn and to provide uniform distribution of the lubricant within the yarn which is positioned below the resilient wall and which passes between said resilient wall and said rigid flange surface with minimal functional contact; and f. means for mounting said device on the yarn winding apparatus in a position such that the yarn lubricant flows from said container through said passageway means in said housing by gravity.
 2. The device in accordance with claim 1 wherein means are provided for varying the effective size of said orifice means.
 3. The device in accordance with claim 1 wherein the orifice means is defined by an opening in said container and means for angularly displacing the orifice means relative to said passageway means whereby the effective size of said orifice meAns is variable.
 4. The device in accordance with claim 1 wherein said orifice means and said passageway through said housing are arcuate. 